What were the major reasons for Mikhail Gorbachev’s?

Question

What were the major reasons for Mikhail Gorbachev’s failure to reform the political and economic systems of the USSR?

Answer 1

It has been said (I don't remember the source anymore) that he wanted to remove the bad outer leaves from the onion until he discovered that it was bad all through.

His original plans focused on a reform of the economy, not intending to put socialism to an end but merely to remove corruption, nepotism and inefficiency. This campaign was called "Perestroika".

When he discovered that he couldn't do that because of resistance from those afraid of loosing their privileges, he launched a second campaign, "Glasnost" (openness) aimed at disposing the corruption etc. to the public by giving the press more freedom. This turned out to be a Pandora's box: a wave of harsh criticism, not only against the corruption but against the core values of the socialist state. This caused the authorities to loose the grip on society, and the "republics" (member states) started to declare themselves independent.

The main reason for his fall was probably the public frustration related to the economic decline which followed from the authorities' loss of power in combination with transitional problems relating to his (attempted) modernization of the economy.

Answer 2

I would not call that a failure. I would rather call it an unplanned turn of events. The thing is, socialist system in the USSR of early to mid 80's was already showing many signs of ineffectiveness including a growing disappointment and skepticism of population, so 'perestroika' was not just a reform, but a brainwashing term in order to keep bad perceptions on the low. Economic system in USSR was so corrupt that it was impossible to make it more effective without liberalizing more of it, allowing small businesses to exist, which in turn would create the need for more reforms. Communist ideology was doomed even before the reforms started, because young and many middle-aged people were so fed up with the system and they lost every cent of patriotism. That created the need to deviate from one party system which happened in the late 80's. But even all that might not have ignited the crash of USSR if not for the coup in 1991, which basically demonstrated that there are too many reactive powers in the country and some action is needed to isolate them. Hence, the breakup.

Answer 3

Gorbachev himself says that he was trying to go slowly with reforms because he was afraid that too much too soon would somehow end up in disaster.

He himself says that he thinks this was a mistake, and he sees now that he was standing in the way of reform when he should have been embracing it.

Answer 4

IMHO, he was successful in these areas.